Our Love was Forged in Fire
by runningwyld
Summary: Predictably, Danny wasn't happy when Steve decided to run back into the path of the fire set by escaped serial arsonist/murderer Jason Duclair in Season 08, Episode 01, while he and the others waited helpless for rescue in the cabin. A little angst with the bonus of a domestic McDanno coda to the episode. Established McDanno slash.


**Disclaimer and Credits: I own no rights to Hawaii Five-0 or any of its characters. This a work of fan fiction and no infringement is intended. Dialog from Season 08 Episode 0,1 _A'ole E 'olelo Mai Ana Ke Ahi Ua Ana Ia (Fire Will Never Say That It Has Had Enough)_ was written by Peter M. Lenkov, Rob Hanning, Eric Guggenheim, and Sean O'Reilly.**

A/N: This is an established McDanno story. I consider it part of my _It's About Damn Time_ verse that began with the story _Did You Mean It?._ It can stand alone if you keep in mind the following facts: Danny and Steve got together after the events of s07e08 and Danny moved into Steve's house about three months later. The time between the boys getting together and this story, which is set in s08e01, is stretched out a few months. There was no radiation poisoning and no plans for a restaurant. They also got Eddie the dog earlier than on the show since he didn't actually appear until s08e02. The stories in this verse are not necessarily in chronological order. So, since I introduced Junior in my last story, _Another Lost Soul Is Found_, I thought I should to go back and introduce Tani as well, although she does not play a central role in this story. It's more about how Danny dealt with Steve running back into the path of the fire while he waited helplessly in the cabin, followed by a domestic McDanno coda to the episode. (Reminder: This is the episode where serial arsonist/murderer Jason Duclair escapes from prison and when Steve, Danny, Lou, and Tani goes after him, Duclair sets the jungle on fire.) If you've made it to the end of this note without bailing, I hope you'll continue on and read the story.

* * *

The fire raged around them as they ran inside the cabin and slammed the door. Steve immediately had Grover secure Jason Duclair, who simply smirked at the destruction and panic he had caused. Danny could tell the arsonist was getting off on the flames and the likelihood that he had killed them all, himself included. _What kind of psycho got excited at the thought of being burned alive? _

"Guys, get towels, pillow cases, whatever you can find. We've got to fill these cracks, keep the smoke out, keep the fresh O2 in." As usual, Steve immediately took command of the situation. After laying his weapon on the table with the clear intention that it be used to kill Duclair if the escaped felon attempted anything, he tried in vain to get Jerry on the coms.

Danny took a deep breath of mostly smoke-free air and went up to Steve, desperate to hear that they still had a chance to get out of the inferno alive.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"How much time do we have?"

"Five people, less than a thousand square feet. We're going to run out of O2 before we burn to death," Steve told him matter-of-factly.

"You could've lied, you know."

"We're going to get out of here," Steve reassured him. While Danny's belief in Steve's abilities to overcome even the most daunting odds was almost as great as Steve's own, he just didn't see how they were going survive this time. The fire was raging outside, and the cabin was made of wood. Just like Steve said, even if the flames didn't overtake the structure, it was just a matter of time before they succumbed to smoke inhalation.

"How?" Tani asked, clearly worried. "What's your plan?"

"This place has got to be crawling with rescue. I'm going to get out there and I'm going to find one of them."

"Out there back in the fire?" Lou asked incredulously. "That's your plan?" The fact that even Lou thought Steve's words were crazy only increased Danny's anxiety.

"That's my plan or I can stay in here and we all die. I'm going to run downhill into the wind as much as I can."

"Sounds so stupid," Danny cried. He could hear the panic in own voice, but at the moment he couldn't control it. "It sounds just as stupid as what you just said before."

"That's what I got." Steve told him, his demeanor outwardly calm. "This is the best chance we have."

"I know," Danny shouted. "You think I don't know that? But why do you have to go alone? You're always the one taking the most risks. I should come with you."

"Going alone I have the best chance of making it out alive and getting help for the rest of you. This is the type of thing I've trained for my whole life." Sometimes Steve's coolness in life or death situations had the opposite of a calming effect on Danny. Instead of lessening his anxiety, Steve's confidence made him want to yell and scream until Steve admitted that he wasn't invincible and that they were all going to die.

"You've trained to run through forest fires and not be overcome by smoke inhalation? What? Did the Navy give you Superman's powers along with your trident?" Danny knew he was being obnoxious, but he couldn't help it. The man he loved was volunteering for what would likely be a suicide mission.

"I'll be okay, Danny." Steve promised him. "No other outcome is acceptable because Grace and Charlie aren't losing their father today, not if there is even the slightest chance that I can prevent it."

"They better not lose you either. You're not expendable, you know." Danny pulled him forward for a hard, desperate kiss before Steve eased back, briefly resting his forehead against Danny's.

"I love you," Steve whispered.

Danny closed his eyes because he didn't want to see the goodbye in Steve's. When he opened them again, he went with false bravado because otherwise he might just cry. "I hate you. I hate you so much and if you die, I'll never forgive you." Danny turned away only to suddenly spin back around. This time his voice was filled with anguish. "Steve? Please, be careful."

Steve looked at him with a sad smile before heading to the door. "If this thing starts coming in, y'all stay low and you stay wet. Alright?"

"Alright." Danny promised. "Do me a favor, please . . . stay alive." Then with a voice choked with tears, he said, "I love you too, even if you are a reckless idiot."

Steve kissed him one last time and then he left to do what he always did, risk his life to save others. After the door closed behind him, Danny stood there looking at it as if he could will Steve to come back. _Why did he have to fall in love with a lunatic with a hero complex?_ Then he shook off his worry and got to work.

As they were wetting themselves down and stuffing towels in the cracks that littered the cabin walls, Tani, with a lot more casualness than Danny thought she could possibly feel under the circumstances, asked, "So you and Commander McGarrett are together, huh? Like a couple?"

Lou rolled his eyes and snorted. "You should see them when they're not at work, they're so lovey-dovey it's enough to give a person a toothache."

"Shut up, Lou. Yes, we're a couple. Do you have a problem with that? Because I was about to apologize for getting you into this mess, but if that's your attitude maybe I'll withhold my apologies."

"What? No, of course I don't have a problem with it. I'm just surprised, is all."

"Huh, you'd be the only one," Lou told her. "When they did the big reveal last year, absolutely no one was surprised. In fact, Kono and Jerry had been calling them McDanno behind their backs for years."

"Why?" Danny screeched. "Why did you tell her that stupid name?" If the fire didn't get to the other man first, he might just kill Lou.

Lou just shrugged.

"McDanno, huh? Like a shipper name? Wouldn't Stanny be better?" Tani mused.

"Look, we don't have time for this right now," Danny insisted. The last thing he wanted to discuss when facing near certain death was that idiotic name half their friends had taken to calling them, as if he and Steve were now an amalgamation instead of two separate people who happened to be in a relationship. "In case you've forgotten, there is a raging inferno right outside and it's headed this way. If Steve doesn't find help soon, the only thing people will be calling us is dead."

"You guys are wasting your time," Duclair declared. Danny had almost forgotten the lunatic was there.

"Nobody asked you." Grover snapped at him.

Duclair looked up from where he was strapped to a chair and spoke as if he was the one in control. "Oh, I'm gonna enjoy watching you burn."

"We can get this party started right now. How about I find some accelerant and light that ass up, and we can watch you burn." Lou, drenched in both water and sweat, threatened. The stress of the situation was definitely getting to him.

Duclair ignored Lou's threat and turned towards Danny. "McGarrett isn't gonna make it far, you know. The smoke out there is a mix of carbon monoxide and fine particles of burning trees and plant life. Those particle are small – less than two and a half micrometers. But trust me, they're deadly. They can find their way into the deepest parts of your lungs. First comes the coughing. Your throat turns to sandpaper. Then the headaches. Fatigue. Shortness of breath. Smoke is like a poison infecting your blood through your lungs and attacking the cells. Fire uncontrolled is one of Mother Nature's most elegant weapons."

"That's it." Lou picked up a wooden bowl sitting on the table next to him and did what Danny wished he'd done himself - he swung it with a vicious forehand against the side of Duclair's face. But the other man didn't even seem to feel the impact, he just looked at Lou as if he was no more than a pesky bug to be stepped on.

"What, you want another wood facial?" Lou asked him. "You better point those eyes somewhere else."

Danny was worried that Lou might snap and kill the guy with his bare hands, not that Danny would blame him. He was tempted to do just that himself, but he couldn't because if Steve somehow made it out, he'd send help, and if they survived this, Danny sure as hell didn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison for murder. He'd dodged that bullet once already. Instead, he turned around and tried to make contact with either Jerry or Steve on the coms, but his anxiety only increased when neither man responded to his calls. He told himself that Steve's failure to respond didn't mean anything, the coms had been down even before he headed out into the burning jungle.

Just as Lou walked over to see if he'd had any success reaching Steve or Jerry, Duclair somehow got out of his restraints and bolted for the door. Danny pulled his gun and chased after him. He fired off several shots, winging Duclair in the shoulder, but the psycho just kept running straight into the flames. Once Duclair disappeared, Danny herded Lou and Tani back inside. He wasn't too concerned about Duclair's escape, he'd likely be dead in minutes, what concerned him most was the fact that the cabin was now filled with smoke.

"Get down on the floor," Danny instructed. They were all coughing as the smoke swirled around them. Damn it, this wasn't the way he wanted to die. He prayed Steve had made it out. Danny knew his partner would be devastated by his death and tormented by his own failure to save him, but Steve would still have Grace and Charlie. They'd need him and he'd get through the loss for them. Danny had to believe that because it was all he had left to hang on to.

"Hey, Danny," Grover's voice broke through his thoughts, but he couldn't deal with any more emotion just then.

Danny glanced over from where he was lying on the floor. "Do me a favor - save your oxygen, okay?"

"Just let him say what he wants to say," Tani told him. Her voice was weak, and Danny knew they were almost out of time.

"I think I'm pretty sure I know what he wants to say."

"Hey," Lou reached a fist him out towards and Danny bumped his own against it.

"Me too, brother. Me too," Danny told him before laying his head back down.

That's when he heard it - a repetitive noise breaking through the sounds of the fire. _Whop, whop, whop ..._ He lifted his head and listened. _Whop, whop, whop ... _Yes, he definitively heard something, and it sounded for all the world like a helicopter. God, he hoped he wasn't delusional. Danny got up. There was no point in trying to keep anymore smoke out of the cabin because if the sound wasn't a helicopter, they were dead anyway. He went to the door and stepped outside. He scanned the sky and saw it, a military helicopter was hovering overhead and Steve was sitting in one of the pilot seats. Damn, maybe he was Superman.

H50*H50*H50*H50*H50*H50*H50*H50

When Danny walked into the house the next afternoon, he was greeted by a forty-five-pound bowling ball and happy calls of "Danno," as Charlie's arms wrapped around his waist. Danny knelt down and hugged his son, "Hey, buddy, it's great to see you. What are you doing here?"

"Uncle Steve picked me and Grace up after school. He said we were going to surprise you. Did we? Are you surprised?"

"Very surprised. And very happy to see you." He kissed Charlie's cheek and mussed his hair before standing back up, his knee making an annoying popping sound in the process. "So, where is everybody?"

"Gracie's in her room doing her homework so she won't have to do it later, and Uncle Steve is outside cleaning the grill we got him for Father's Day. I think he really likes it. Me and Eddie and Murphy were helping, but I came in to get something to drink."

"I see. Well, I'm sure you and the dogs were a big help to your Uncle Steve, but have you finish your homework yet?"

"I don't have much. Just my reading and spelling words and I need to practice those with a grown-up."

"Well, why don't you go get your books and we'll take care of your assignments, then we can have a nice family night, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." Charlie took off for his room.

Danny watched as his son raced up the stairs. He should have realized that Steve would know just how much he needed to see his children after the harrowing events of the previous day. Danny laughed to himself. His partner must have turned that Smooth Dog charm on Rachel to get her to agree to the visit since it was her week with Grace and Charlie.

He walked out back to find Steve who had apparently moved on from cleaning the grill and was now wiping down the patio table and chairs they'd bought last Spring. When he saw Danny, he smiled. That was it, that was all it took to make Danny's heart feel like it was going to explode. He crossed the short distance that separated them and all but threw himself in Steve's arms and buried his face his neck. Steve held him tight, just the way Danny liked. God, he loved this man.

The night before, when they finally made it home from the ER after being rescued, they were too exhausted and their throats too sore from the smoke to talk or to do much more than fall into bed after showering off the ash, smoke, and soot. His throat still felt like it had been attacked by a cheese grater, but it was better than it had been last night, and his cough had definitely improved. Steve had breathed in a lot more smoke than the rest of them though, so his cough was worse, and the ER doctor said he'd likely be hocking up black phlegm for several days. Danny didn't know how they were even still alive. By rights, they should be dead, their bodies charred beyond recognition. He shook off that disturbing thought. It just may be that his claustrophobia had been supplanted by pyrophobia. It seemed like the fear of fire was a much more sensible phobia anyway. While being in a confined space wasn't likely to kill you, fire sure as hell could.

"Hey, everything okay?"

At Steve's hoarse voice, Danny was pulled from his thoughts. He loosened his hold and looked up into Steve's concerned eyes. "Yeah. Just thinking about yesterday and about how you always know just what I need. Thanks for talking Rachel into letting us have the kids."

"Hey, that wasn't just for you. I needed to see them too."

"I know and that makes me love you even more." Danny emphasized his point with a soft kiss. "I was really scared yesterday."

"I was scared too, Danny. Despite what I said, there isn't any training that prepares you to survive smoke inhalation. The wind and terrain cooperated enough that I was able to stay ahead of the flames, but if that chopper hadn't spotted me, I wouldn't have lasted much longer. And I knew if I died, then there was no way you and the others would be rescued. That scared the hell out of me."

"You got there just in time. Once Duclair opened the door and escaped, the cabin filled with smoke. We wouldn't have survived for much longer." Danny stepped out of Steve's arms and looked him up and down, taking inventory. "How are you? You still sound awful."

"I'm good. My headache's gone. My throat feels like it's been recently cauterized, but the cough is a little better and my chest doesn't feel like there's a fifty-pound weight sitting on it anymore, so all things considered, yeah, I'm good."

Danny reached out and ran a hand down Steve's arm before bringing it up to grasp the back of his neck. He pulled Steve into another kiss, this one longer and much less chaste. "I'm glad you told the governor that all we were doing today was paperwork. And I'm really glad you were able to sweet talk Rachel into letting us have Grace and Charlie for the night."

"They don't call me Smooth Dog for nothing," Steve joked. "Besides, I was worried they might have seen reports of the fire on the news. I thought we could all do with a little family time."

Danny glanced out towards the water, his thoughts briefly straying to a dark place. "Do you think Grace and Charlie would be okay if something happened to us?"

"Short-term, no. Long-term, yeah. Yeah, I do because you've raised them to be strong, Danny. They know what we do and why we do it. If something happened, they'd know that we loved them and that we died trying to make the world a better, safer place for them. Besides, they'd still have Rachel and our friends and most importantly, they'd have each other. They wouldn't be alone."

"Like you were."

"Yeah, like I was," Steve agreed softly.

"I think maybe we should talk to Rachel." Danny told him. "Get her to promise not to move Grace and Charlie off the island if something happens to us. We need to make her understand that they would need their ohana then more than ever and leaving wouldn't make it any easier for them to deal with our deaths."

"I think that's a good idea. A bit morbid, but a good idea. Especially if it will help you get past your worry."

"Yeah, I think we should talk to her," Danny said again with more determination.

"Okay, then we will. But Danny, please try to let go of your anxiety after that. I love you and Grace and Charlie more than I ever thought it was possible to love. I finally have a real family and I want to enjoy it instead of worrying about some terrible future that may never happen."

"You know my default has always been to think of the worst-case scenario, but I don't do that with you, at least not when it comes to our relationship. So yes, I'm still going to worry when someone's shooting at us or when we're surrounded by walls of flames, but when it comes to us and our family, I'm pretty damn optimistic actually. So, tomorrow we'll talk to Rachel, but tonight we'll have fun as a family. Instead of worrying about what could have happened yesterday, I promise to enjoy the fact that we're all here together, safe and sound."

"And happy."

"Yeah, and happy," Danny agreed. "And I am, you know. For the first time in my life, I'm really happy. Not just that happy in the moment kind of happy, either, but the kind of happy that's underneath everything else, even in the bad times."

"I'm glad. And just so you don't start worrying about it, I'm happy too."

"Like I don't know that, you big goof. But still, it's nice to hear. I love you, Steven."

"I love you too." This time it was Steve who leaned in to kiss him. It was a kiss that promised that there would be much more to come later, but since the kids were likely to interrupt them at any moment, they reluctantly broke apart before they could get too carried away.

Danny sat down on one of the newly cleaned patio chairs and gestured for Steve do the same. "Take a seat, babe."

"Hey, how's Tani? She alright?" Steve asked after sitting down in the seat on Danny's right. When Steve had called Tani that morning to check on her and to renew his offer of a job with Five-0, she'd been non-committal, so Danny had decided to go pay her a visit in person. First, because they'd nearly gotten her killed and he wanted to make sure she was doing alright. And second, because he believed she'd be a great asset to the team, and he thought she needed to know that when Steve made you a part of his team, he also made you a part of his family.

"Yeah, she's good. She says she feels like she's smoked a thousand packs of cigarettes. She's fine. I think she's gotta get her head examined, though."

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, obviously confused and worried.

"She's coming back tomorrow."

"That's great news," Steve grinned. "She is? That's great. We need the help."

Before Danny could respond, Charlie ran outside with his school books and climbed into Danny's lap. Grace trailed behind her little brother. She walked over to Danny, kissed his cheek and said hello before sitting down in the empty chair next to him. Just then, Eddie and Murphy, who had been sniffing around the backyard, caught sight of them and ran up to the lanai, nuzzling each of them in a bid for attention.

Danny looked at Steve and smiled contentedly. "This right here," he gestured to the people and animals surrounding him, "this makes me really happy."

Steve reached out and squeezed Danny's hand before picking up Charlie's spelling book. "Okay, buddy, let's see what you've learned this week. How do you spell onomatopoeia?"

When the six-year-old's mouth dropped open in shock, Danny and Grace burst out laughing. Okay, let's see then, how about this one … how do you spell family?"

"What?" Steve asked, feigning surprise. "They haven't taught you that one in first grade yet?

**_Fin._**

A/N: Thanks so much for reading. Just a little teaser: I'm working on a McDanno wedding story for this verse. I'm not sure when I'll finish it, but at least I've started it, so stay tuned.


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